


You Did This?

by Kate_Christie



Series: Fictober 2020 [3]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode: s02e25 Resolutions, F/M, Fictober 2020, gratuitous gardening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:47:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26821627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kate_Christie/pseuds/Kate_Christie
Summary: Fictober 2020 10/3/2020; “You did this?” A J/C Voyager scene set three months after Resolutions, just before Basics part I. The timing relies on the excellent Voyager episode timeline spreadsheet by Caladenia. I admit I have spreadsheet envy. 😉
Relationships: Chakotay/Kathryn Janeway
Series: Fictober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951720
Comments: 10
Kudos: 50





	You Did This?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Star Trek Voyager Episodes Timeline](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21640147) by [Caladenia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caladenia/pseuds/Caladenia). 



Chakotay approaches the cargo bay on a mission. A ridiculous mission, but it’s a mission nonetheless. On earth, it’s New Year’s Eve. Only during his academy days in San Francisco had he been made fully aware of the traditions associated with the date. And of course, Tom Paris had insisted on a party last year. Neelix had immediately taken up the cause, so there will be a countdown and a toast at midnight tonight. But between now and then, he and the Captain have their standing dinner plans. 

And so, when he rounds the corner outside the hydroponics bay, his mission is to find a flower, or maybe a few, worthy of a somewhat sappy, romantic, archaic tradition. 

In the past three months, they have settled back into a comfortable routine. No mention of ancient legends, not even a single hand-hold. Their agreement upon leaving New Earth had been mutual in the end, though he had lobbied hard in those final hours before they had put their uniforms back on and beamed aboard as Captain and Commander. 

Now, as the doors slide open, the sight before him almost takes his breath away. 

Kathryn Janeway is picking tomatoes.

One basket-draped arm is already loaded down with ruby-colored orbs, and she’s wearing that damn blue dress. How many of his dreams in the past three months have involved that dress, or the lack thereof? 

At the whoosh of the doors, she turns her head, and the look that crosses her face is half guilt and half guile.

“Fancy meeting you here, Commander.” She’s smiling, the way she used to when her hands were covered with dirt and her nose, with freckles.

“I could say the same. I didn’t know you helped Kes and Neelix with the harvesting.” He approaches the rack where she is still plucking the reddest specimens from their vines. The tomatoes seem to take up the whole thing, bushy spires of deep green leaves supporting clusters of fruit in varying stages of ripeness.

“I don’t, actually. These are mine.” Her answer is mostly pride, but it comes tinged with a deep, rosy blush on her cheeks that reminds him so much of his Kathryn, his chest aches.

“You did this?” 

“Kes gave me some pointers on hydroponics when I started the seedlings, but generally, yes.”

All this would have taken months. She must have started the seeds right after they’d returned… His cheeks hurt from the force of the smile that blooms across his face at the thought of her here, tending to these plants every day. 

“How about you, what did you come here for?” Her voice snaps him out of his reverie. Basket full, she steps away from her rack and faces him, jutting one hip out to support the weight of her harvest.

“I guess I’ve been caught—I was coming to find flowers for you for our dinner tonight.” Now he’s the one blushing.

“New Year’s Eve.” She turns toward the section of racks containing ornamental plants and he follows. “I was hoping you might still want to have dinner, even though we have Neelix’s party at midnight.” Her eyes sparkle up at him with her admission, and maybe his sappy, romantic plan isn’t so far off base after all. 

“Let me guess, we’re having salad?” He tries for humor just in case he’s misinterpreted.

“Ha! No, these aren’t for tonight,” she shifts the basket on her hip and stops in front of a rack of rose bushes, the sweet scent of their blooms tickling his nose. “I was actually planning to ask you a favor at dinner. I wondered if some night this week you might be willing to make that sauce you told me so much about—“

“My sister’s marinara.” On New Earth, she had been so optimistic about the garden’s prospects he had already been menu planning, gauging her interest in recipes he could adapt to their supplies. He hadn’t realized she had been paying attention when he had rambled about how his sister loved Italian food. “I would love to. Name the day and I’ll book some time in the galley.”

Pink-cheeked, dirt-smudged, and surrounded by a riot of blooms, she could be standing outside their house, about to take his arm for an evening stroll. Chakotay takes the pair of clippers at the end of the rack and reaches over her shoulder, selecting a bright pink flower, its petals beginning to open, but not quite at its peak. Snipping the stem, he finds himself close enough to smell the hint of her perfume mingled with the scent of the flowers, and his eyes blink closed for an instant before he steps back and hands her the rose. 

Bringing the petals to her nose, she inhales. 

“It’s beautiful, thank you.”

“Here, let me carry these.” Chakotay’s fingers brush her arm as he takes the basket from her, and his mind flashes back to the last time he had touched her skin, held her in his arms… From her wide-eyed expression, she remembers, too. 

The woosh of the doors breaks the moment, and they separate to a respectable distance, though by the gentle smile on her face, Kes knows what she might have interrupted. 

“Shall we, Captain?” He offers his elbow, and she links her arm through it with her usual formality, but a hint of pink still remains in her cheeks as she brings the rose up and inhales one more time.

“See you at the party, Kes,” she calls across the room as they make for the exit. Just before they step into the corridor, Kes catches his eye, gaze flicking down at the basket full of tomatoes he’s carrying, and winks.

**Author's Note:**

> Alex, as always, you are a champ. You didn’t sign up for 31 days of beta, but you’re a good sport for answering the call! Thanks to everyone reading. These are taking wildly different routes but all in the same general direction.


End file.
